Australian Homeschool Curriculum

Year Three - Grade Three

Ages 8-9

This is a suggested outline of how to organise your curriculum for Year Three. Curriculum choice varies depending on the individual child and specific family's homeschooling needs. So feel free to change it as it suits you.

This guideline has been written with consideration of the Australian National Curriculum (ANC) and the methods of Charlotte Mason.

In Year Three the child only needs about two to three hours formal sit down work 4 days per week. Read aloud time is extra.

The rest of the time should be spent on the activities of daily living, establishing good habits and learning through play and lots of conversation.

If you are new to homeschooling find out how to homeschool and spend these early years equipping yourself with the tools needed to teach.

See our how to homeschool booklists for more ideas.

Year Three Scope & Sequence

• Bible Study: Scripture reading. Hero's and Christian fictional literature for children
• English: Includes communication skills, narration, copywork, poetry, grammar and many books for reading aloud.
• Math: Follow chosen curriculum. Continue math timetable drill.
• Science and Nature Study: Follow Apologia schedule
• History: Communities and remembrance, emblems, celebrations & commemorations of Australia & the world
• Geography:ANC Big Idea: How we live
  

Homeschooling Downunder Year Three Resources

Curriculum Suggestions By Subjects

Bible

Hero Tales by Dave and Neta Jackson (Volumes 1—2). Christian devotions using christian heroes of the faith.

Spiritual Themed Read Aloud

Treasures of the Snow by Patricia Saint John. This also comes as a DVD.

Spindles series by Barry Chant. Australian outback stories with spiritual themes.

English

LANGUAGE & LITERACY

Teaching English can be done without a workbook BUT many of us do not have the confidence to do that.

Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons is a two year program for Year Two to Three that teaches a variety of English skills.

Combine with this resource with daily copywork and a reading program to complete your language arts program.

• Aesop's Fables Classic Copywork

If you feel that your child is is confident with their printing you can begin to introduce cursive. You start with Downunder Copywork Book 2 Cursive. For the more reluctant writers these cursive resources may be helpful:

• Blinky Bill Copywork Cursive (Free Download)
• Classic Copywork Beatrix Potter Cursive
• Classic Copywork Mother Goose Cursive

Spelling can be taught during dictation. If you use the Emma Serl's Primary Language Lessons this is part of the resource.

LITERATURE

Our copywork resources include excerpts from good quality literature.

Poetry

A Book for Kids by CJ Dennis.

Classics

Aesop's Fables for Children There are many versions of these classic fables. Look for one at your library.

Read Aloud Suggestions List

Look through our Living Booklists for some ideas

Math

• Chosen curriculum
• Math drill such as Times Table Drill Copywork  or Calculadder
• Mathletics is also a fun online resource.
• Math Online - Read my review and find out about the homeschool discount

Science and Nature Study

The Australian National Curriculum teaches the science disciplines biology, chemistry, earth and space (geology & astronomy) and physical science (physics). Within each school year a portion of the each science strand is chosen for study. Science teaching is broken down into science understanding, science skills and human endeavour. The curriculum states that these topics are interrelated and that scheduling of topics can be taught at the teacher’s discretion.

For science we have enjoyed the Apologia Exploring Creation series by Jeannie Fullbright. These books are best done as read alouds in the early primary and in late primary school they can be done independently. The notebooks are not necessary. Choose one book per year to complete from Year Three to Year Six.

The topics that I recommend are:

• Exploring Creation with Astronomy(excellent--my kids love this one)
• Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day: Exploring Creation with Zoology 2 (the ocean box was very popular)
• Land Animals of the Sixth Day: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 (lots of marsupials in there)
• Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology

For other science strands I recommend the books of John Hudson Tiner. Read one as a read aloud each year.

Exploring the World of Physics: From Simple Machines to Nuclear Energy
Exploring the World of Chemistry: From Ancient Metals to High-Speed Computersby John Hudson Tiner
Johannes Kepler, Sower Series .Many titles are in this series. Written with a christian world view.

Note: Since geology covers the theory of evolution we suggest that you choose a resource that you have considered for yourself. We like books from Creation Ministries

NATURE STUDY

• Nature study and journaling will continue to teach about living things and how they grow.
• Nature Walks once per week.
• Complete The Wonderland of Nature if you havent already done so.

History and Geography

Our focus for this year is on significant dates and celebration in Australia’s cultural heritage.  This will tie in with geography as we look at maps and states of Australia

Australia Day January 26th.

• Australia Flag Lapbook. This also reinforces the states of Australia and their emblems.
• Flags and Emblems of Australia by Jill Bruce is also a good book to read while doing the lapbook.

ANZAC Day
If possible have your child attend some ANZAC celebrations.

• Read Digger’s Code by Steve and Marion Isham. This book is not narrative in style but has two parts. The first part is a comic book style story. It has riddles for the child to solve and may require a rereading in order to understand the clues. The second part is an artistic reproduction of an original digger’s diary from WWI. I personally think it might be helpful to read the diary first to put the story in context.  This book also briefly covers Hanukkah a Jewish celebration. The book also has a supporting website with more ANZAC information.
• Simpson and His Donkey By Frane Lessac (Illustrated by) and Mark Greenwood tells the story of how one man and his donkey rescued over 300 men during the Gallipoli campaign. Here are some teacher’s notes from the website.
• The Donkey Who Carried the Wounded: The Famous Story of Simpson and His Donkey - a True Anzac Legend by Jackie French Novel of the same story.

NAIDOC Week First Week July

Read The Papunya School Book of Country and History by Nadia Wheatley. This book also covers geography issues and Aboriginal art.

Mary MacKillop Feast Day August 8th

Use the Saint Mary MacKillop lapbook.

Keep Australia Beautiful End of August

You can choose to focus on some aspect of sustainable geography such as litter, recycling or energy saving. Visit this website for ideas if you need to. I couldn't find a good resource for this topic but it is one that the Australian National Curriculum wants children to cover. All of the books I read had controversial messages and political agendas. I will let you decide how you want to present this topic.

Other Celebrations
Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World. For significant celebrations around the world. Read through the book.

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